Saturday, December 29, 2012

Does the 2nd Amendment protect children?

This year’s journey to Bethlehem was re-routed through Sandy
Hook. Visions of the baby lying in a manger transfigured into images of young children
lying in coffins. Tragically this season was as much about the “Slaughter of
the Innocents” as the birth of the Prince of Peace.

We’ve been here before. Columbine, Virginia Tech, Ft. Hood, Tucson,
a theater in Aurora, a shopping center in Omaha, a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin, and
now Webster, New York. Too many times angry, sometimes deranged people with
guns used their last day on earth to make it so for others. Somehow this feels
different. Twenty dead six and seven year olds, bodies ripped apart by bullets,
will do that.

Our congressional delegation’s response was disappointing. Sandy
Hook caused others to reassess, not Mike Enzi, John Barrasso or Cynthia Lummis.
They cling to threadbare NRA positions. Wyoming is a “guns” state but given the
choice, wouldn’t we prioritize children? Don’t be certain. Their constituents
responded to the pain in Connecticut is buying more guns in Wyoming.

There was a time in Wyoming history when cowboys were
required to check their guns at the Marshall’s office as soon as they tied
their horse to the hitching post. Even old west communities felt safer when
guns were controlled. Today legislators are more concerned with their “A”
rating from the NRA.

Why are mass killings now a part of American life? It’s not
like that in most nations. In the last 50 years, 15 of the 25 worst mass
shootings happened in the United States. Finland was second with two. Among developed countries, America has the
highest gun homicide rate and the highest number of guns per capita. America
has more gun homicides than all other high-income countries combined,
two-and-a-half times as many as Iraq!

The Supreme Court
has ruled the right to bear arms is protected but not absolutely. It’s subject
to regulations and controls. The Second Amendment allows citizens to
bear arms but not to bear the kind of weapons used in this slaughter. One
website (outdoorsnative.com) selling the Bushmaster model used at Sandy
Hook describes the weapon (quote is abbreviated but verbatim).

“The Bushmaster rifle is legal in most states but unfortunately
is illegal in a few states because of certain features (you know what states
you are, wake up and give your citizens their rights!) We know we might hear a
lot of negative feedback and disagreement because we are saying an AR with a
.223 round is a great survival rifle. Do we care? Actually no we don’t.With 30 round
magazines and the option to purchase aftermarket magazines that will hold even
more rounds, this rifle has the capability to put a lot of rounds down range
very quickly.”

The ad promises this gun can fire as many as 180 rounds in less
than two minutes. “There is a reason why so many militaries around the world
use this kind of weapon.”

These weapons were invented for only one purpose, to kill a lot
of people very quickly. That’s why, as the ad says, militaries around the world
use it. Army’s should have it, but not our neighbors.

The NRA is right about the culture. Children are force-fed an
unhealthy diet of violence from movies and TV to computer games and
cage-fighting. Guns are also part of American culture. Nations with lower
levels of gun violence have all the former, little of the latter.

Self-reflection should move us from grief to the advocacy
stage of the post-traumatic process. It’s time for people of good faith to
speak. Gun-lovers, gun-haters, mental health experts, those with a stake in a dysfunctional
cultural bent toward violent expression, need to abandon their talking points.
There’s no room for them in those Sandy Hook graves.

Sandy Hook must change America if Bethlehem changed the
world. The Biblical journey to Bethlehem included three wise men. Hopefully we’ll
have that many wise men and women willing to make the sad journey through Sandy
Hook.